In my group of online friends we have a half-joke that people (young men) who like Hemingway (and Bukowski) are to be avoided. There's a very special type of immature person, we reckon, who hold those up to be the pinnacle of literature. So I definitely agree that he is overrated, and would like to throw Bukowski under the bus as well.

Hmm... I find Clarke's version of the story of the story hard to believe. If Hemingway proposed the bet, he likely hard already crafted the story before proposing the bet, which makes it a terrible bet to take.

The thing about recursion problems is that they tend to contain other recursion problems.

Kewangji wrote:In my group of online friends we have a half-joke that people (young men) who like Hemingway (and Bukowski) are to be avoided. There's a very special type of immature person, we reckon, who hold those up to be the pinnacle of literature. So I definitely agree that he is overrated, and would like to throw Bukowski under the bus as well.

We won't be friends anytime soon, I guess. (Hemingway is not the pinnacle of literature but he has written at least two very good books. Bukowski is really really really good a lot of the time and mediocre occasionally.)

If Hemingway describes rain, I think it's raining. It's not the, how do you say, tightness of the prose that I have problems with. And it's okay! We don't have to be friends. We can have healthy disagreements about literature and such.

Two names come to mind when talking about the worst/most overrated books ever:1. Miles To Go (by Miley Cyrus and Hilary Liftin): If you can't write good material on your own, you shouldn't try to go and publish a book. Like one critic very aptly put it: 'Basically, it felt like a staged book, a cry for sympathy and people to forget the stupid stuff she did, an attempt to look perfect.'

2. The Jungle (by Upton Sinclair): The work itself could hardly be called literary. It seems that the protagonist exists only for the sake of conjoining the various pieces of reportage. No emotional depth in the characters at all.

I'm reading the first book in the Thomas Covenant series, and omagerb, I can't handle how slow and drudgetastic this book is. I have to read while I walk places otherwise I fall asleep. I'm fine with a confused protagonist, but not a completely disinterested one.

... with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

Breakfast of Champions. I'm usually a big Vonnegut fan, but I had to put that down 2/3 of the way through. I couldn't take any more of the horribly on-the-nose mockery. I now know how to draw an asshole, but gee whiz.

I liked Hemingway a lot in middle and high school, but I was in middle and high school. I haven't read any in a while and I'll try to retain the happy memories.

There's a certain amount of freedom involved in cycling: you're self-propelled and decide exactly where to go. If you see something that catches your eye to the left, you can veer off there, which isn't so easy in a car, and you can't cover as much ground walking.

Quizatzhaderac wrote:Hmm... I find Clarke's version of the story of the story hard to believe. If Hemingway proposed the bet, he likely hard already crafted the story before proposing the bet, which makes it a terrible bet to take.

That sounds like it should make the story more believable, because that is something people do. "I can do something clever/cool/interesting bet me that I can't." And not few people do take such bets because it's just some books ten bucks. (How did I manage to write some books there, I definitely thought ten bucks and only noticed when looking back.)

PeteP wrote:That sounds like it should make the story more believable, because that is something people do. "I can do something clever/cool/interesting bet me that I can't." And not few people do take such bets because it's just some books ten bucks.

Well, I kind of imagine Hemingway and friends as experienced gamblers. As such they'd be able to recognize the distinction that the proposer of the bet would already be certain one way or another.

For comparison, they might accept the bet "I bet I can punch a whole in that wall".If there's a fresh fist sized hole in the wall, and a buddy comes up offering that bet, it's probably a scam for a 100 (today's money) dollars.

(How did I manage to write some books there, I definitely thought ten bucks and only noticed when looking back.)

That's currency in writers' heaven. Oscar Wilde has won a lot of bets over quotes, which is why so much is misattributed to him.

In terms of overrated, I have had more than one person tell me how powerful and moving the symbolism is in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Admittedly, the last time I read it I was under 10, but I remember it as a fairly muddled, and not that remarkable. Certainly not something that I would gush over as an adult.

debogail wrote:In terms of overrated, I have had more than one person tell me how powerful and moving the symbolism is in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Admittedly, the last time I read it I was under 10, but I remember it as a fairly muddled, and not that remarkable. Certainly not something that I would gush over as an adult.

I think The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an entertaining book, but I don't think I would find the symbolism powerful and moving even if I were a Christian.

I read the series for the first time when I was 19, and found LWW the second hardest to bother with, after the Magician's Nephews. Although, I did find the overt book of revelations cod in the last battle made me want to throw the book in the nearest waste disposal unit.

Spoiler:

Giant Speck wrote:You're a demon! DEMON!!!!

Oregonaut wrote:CURSE YOU VILLAIN!!

PhoenixEnigma wrote:Jumble is either the best or worst Santa ever, and I can't figure out which. Possibly both.

If I recall correctly, Dickens was paid by the word, and he was obliged to end his every chapter on some kind of cliffhanger to ensure the reader would buy the next installment.

Reading A Tale of Two Cities in seventh grade was painful and I got practically nothing out of it. Reading Great Expectations a few years later was more tolerable, perhaps on account of my having matured somewhat, though I didn't much care for it.

Jorpho wrote:Reading A Tale of Two Cities in seventh grade was painful and I got practically nothing out of it. Reading Great Expectations a few years later was more tolerable, perhaps on account of my having matured somewhat, though I didn't much care for it.

My experience was the opposite. I hated Great Expectations, possibly due to a Teacher From Hell.

I read A Tale of Two Cities in 10th grade. It started slowly, but as it went on, I actually got in to it.

My nominee for overrated is Wuthering Heights(read in 12th grade). It was just Godawful, despite having a teacher I liked.

For a sentient herbivore, discretion is the only part of valor. - Larry Niven